1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stamping and bending tool assembly and particularly to an extremely high number of cycles at a high capacity and high precision of operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional tool assemblies of the above-mentioned kind are constructed so that each bending and cutting tool forms a separate tool unit of the assembly and must be mounted as such in the tool or housing frame in an exact spatial relationship to the other tools in such a way that the tools operate in an accurately timed relationship to each other. The bending carriages are grouped about a central work station containing the actual bending tool and preceded by a cutting apparatus and a take-in apparatus for the raw material, these two additional partial tool apparatuses being provided with a separate branch drive.
The drives for the cutting and take-in apparatuses must likewise be tuned to operate exactly in timed sequence with the movement of the bending carriage, and very specific movements for the cutting and feeding mechanism are required for each part to be bent. When replacing the tool of the assembled bending carriages relatively long assembly times are still necessary for setting the feeding drive mechanisms for the separator die, which, incidentally, has to be mounted on a separate press, and the take-in carriage for the raw material to the new paths of the individual bending carriages and to the new dimensions of the bent parts. During such assembly, the stamping and bending tool assembly cannot be embodied in the production process and the time required for conversion therefore represents a down time through which the economy of the stamping and bending tool assembly is considerably reduced or at least severely limited, especially in the case of small production series or when the tools have to be changed frequently.